This is the same middle cascade at Senter Falls as yesterday’s LE image only a month earlier and on an overcast day, not dusk. It is a 50-second exposure - the water wasn’t flowing fast so it took a long time. I have several exposures with different tripod positions, but this coming right at you composition works the best. This is one of many whirlpool images I made while shooting falls in NH.
Specific Feedback Requested
Processing feedback welcome
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Tripod with a CPL and ND filters
Lr processed for lens correction, texture & clarity, a lot of brush work to even tonalities and improve contrast. Some work in the color panel with luminance and saturation of the yellows and oranges.
I think either a longer or shorter exposure time would give more a sense of slow movement. Obviously, longer would give a more creamy look, so I would have opted for a shorter time frame which would give a bit more definition to both the water and some of the leaves as you see in the LR side of the frame.
Wow, @Kris_Smith , this is stunning. I love these kinds of long exposure images with a whirlpool, (something on my bucket list and hard to come by out here in arid Southern California!).
50 seconds! Impressive. The foreground swirl is fantastic with its lovely curved shape, leading my eye in to the central whirlpool. And the tiny whirlpool to the left of the leading swirl gives a nice balance to the main whirlpool on the right.
I really love this.
PS - I like your title a lot, though I don’t know what it means. A 4,000 second exposure is all I can come up with!!!
Thanks @Chris_Calohan & @Mark_Muller - yeah, exposure time is a subjective thing. For me a shorter time didn’t complete the circles enough and looked choppy and strange, something I don’t really like in a whirlpool shot. Subjective though I admit.
Heh, this is a more obscure one. Serious music people can follow what I’m listening to when I take or process images. I mean music nerds really since I listen to strange stuff. This song isn’t from an obscure band though, it’s an ELO title from an album released in 1973. What Jeff meant when he wrote it is anyone’s guess!
Such a dynamic image, I love it. I was hoping to find a similar composition this autumn, but nothing ever quite worked out. Your composition here, down low, is fantastic.
The only change I would consider, if you aren’t concerned with maintaining a proper aspect ratio, is to crop a bit more off the top, perhaps down to just below that more illuminated band of rock just above the cascade. For me, that simplifies the image and really focuses on the pathway of the water as it is represented by the cascade and leaf swirls. But this suggestion is hardly necessary; your image is beautiful.
I generally don’t like whirlpool images, but this one works really well for me. It has such a nice sense of depth. The whirl provides a great lead-in rather than it being all about it. Very well done.
I like this very much. I think your choice of shutter speed is very good. Provides the right amount of motion. I like the fact that there are lines coming toward the viewer to help with the overall composition. I might tone down the brighter yellows in the LLC.
Thanks @jefflafrenierre, @Harley_Goldman, @Keith_Bauer & @David_Bostock - I can tinker with the crop and the yellow leaves, there might be some benefit there. It took a few tries to come up with this composition, but in my rummaging I also found this which I’ve never processed before -
Thanks again guys - I’ve been going through old folders and deleting images I’ll never do anything with and that really don’t deserve to see the light of day. This isn’t one of them and I’m glad I took some time with it. They’re both pretty special since I don’t like in NH anymore and probably never will again.
Looks like a giant caramel latte. I love the gold and brown. I agree with Jeff about cropping more off the top to bring more focus onto the whirling water. Wonerful image, though.
